I'm waiting for Ben to make a good trade on his own that doesn't backfire. Maybe this is the one. He hasn't had much luck in trading. Discount the Dodger deal--some media types give him credit for that, but it's well established that deal was made by Henry and Kasten. The FO, however, picked the prospects the Dodgers gave them, and they did OK there with the two pitchers. Plus they do well with the draft, and have a lot of good prospects. Ben deserves credit there, along with the rest of the FO staff, which has been beefed up some.
Ben has a problem in that he replaced several guys above him who went on to promotions to other teams. Some say he was peter principled up, and is Henry's boy. When you are the boss's favorite, you tend to get more credit than you deserve, and so you have a lot to prove to everybody else.
So far this year, so good. A lot of it is because the organization is all rowing in the same direction. That wasn't the case last year. They got the manager they wanted all along, and he and the coaches are doing great.
Note: Didn't they trade for Carp? That was a good trade for Ben.